National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) workers can now look forward to skill development training and human resource development in the form of literacy, health care and child and nutrition care.

The United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with government of India has invited proposals from non government organisations (NGOs) and professional institutions for initiating pilot projects on leveraging NREGA for human development through inter-sectoral convergence or other innovative idea to strengthen implementation of NREGS and rural livelihood resource base for the rural poor.

“Majority of NREGA workers stand very low on human development indicators and earn their livelihood through unskilled, casual manual labour and exploitation of the natural resources base. This dependence makes them more vulnerable to climate shock, natural disaster, ill health, all of which adversely impacts their employment opportunities and reduces their ability to move out of poverty trap. Initiative for durable assets, sustainable livelihood, skill development and human development initiatives thus are very critical for NREGA workers,” the request for proposal (RoP) documents from the UNDP says.

The objectives of the project are as follows: *sustainable livelihood and value addition to asset created under NREGS through convergence *Human resource development that is literacy, heath care, child and nutrition care *Skill building and moving towards sustainable employment. The RoP was floated on August 2 and the deadline for submitting the proposals for the project that will last for 12 months, is August 17.